


When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be ...

by whatyoufish4



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Crew as Family, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 22:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12467324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatyoufish4/pseuds/whatyoufish4
Summary: A Halloween party on Voyager.





	When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be ...

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my sideblog at https://setacourse4home.tumblr.com/post/166713050255/allhallowsreadwithmsp-book-giveaway as part of the 2017 AllHallowsReadWithMsP challenge.

Janeway smiled as she circulated through the crowd in the mess hall, her eyes dancing as she took in each crewmember’s costume. It was surprising that it had taken Tom this long to explain “Halloween” to Neelix, but it was proving to have been more than worth the wait. Replicator rations were currently at a premium, so it spoke all the more highly to the crew’s imagination and ingenuity that such elaborate and unique costumes spread out before her. Historical figures, literary characters, holosuite-inspired personas … She ducked past Seven and the Doctor, the latter of whom was attempting to explain his microbe-based get-up to a small group of less-than-fascinated fellow crewmembers.

She finally spotted Tom and B’Elanna in the crowd. Tom was wearing a somewhat simple outfit: shirt, trousers, vest. She seemed to recall it was one of his favorite characters from twentieth-century science fiction. Loner, was that the name? Something like that. But B’Elanna –

“Captain!” grinned Paris, coming up to raise his glass in homage to her own costume. “Glad to see you found some use for your away mission get-up.”

“What can I say, Tom? It’s good to be the Queen.” Janeway struck an Arachnia-appropriate pose, to the clear delight of Tom. B’Elanna smiled too, but the look was subdued, and she wasn’t quite meeting Janeway’s eyes. Janeway had known her long enough by this point to read the chief engineer’s awkwardness for what it was – not annoyance, but shyness. Perhaps this was B’Elanna’s first costume party. It would certainly explain her rather modest costume attempt.

“Well, I for one am happy to feel like a pirate again,” said Tom, patting the artificial pistol holstered at his hip. 

“Reliving your Maquis days?” asked Janeway, raising an eyebrow.

“Nope.” Tom’s grin was nearly too big to fit his face. “My childhood Halloweens. I was Han every year for a decade!”

B’Elanna rolled her eyes at that, but Janeway didn’t miss the quirk of a smile tugging at the other woman’s lips, some of the awkwardness draining out of her. Good. Maybe she was starting to feel more at ease and could have some real fun at the party.

“And what about you, B’Elanna?” asked Janeway, hoping to bring her chief engineer into the spirit of things. “‘Captain Torres’ _does_ have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

“What? Oh, no, Captain!” B’Elanna looked torn between horror and mortification. She tugged awkwardly at her red-shouldered Starfleet uniform, the four pips on her collar drooping slightly as she tried to readjust the tunic. “I wasn’t – I’m not –”

“At ease, Lieutenant,” said Janeway, gently patting the air. “It’s all in the spirit of the holiday.”

“No, it’s …” B’Elanna cast a glance at Tom, who gave her a reassuring smile before moving off to welcome the just-arrived Harry Kim. The chief engineer took a step closer to Janeway, her voice lowering slightly. “When I was a child, we used to celebrate Halloween every year at grammar school. They always told us that we should dress up as our heroes – whoever it was we most looked up to.” B’Elanna gave a little laugh. “My mother always wanted me to dress up as famous Klingon warriors, but I usually wanted to be a scientist or a pilot.”

Janeway nodded, smiling a little. That sounded about right.

“I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in a long time,” B’Elanna went on, her eyes daring glances at Janeway. “When I had to come up with something for this year, it felt right to dress up as the person I most admire now. The person who took a chance on me and helped me find myself, even though we’re lost in the middle of the Delta quadrant. The person who gave me a home.” Her voice was very quiet. “Captain Kathryn Janeway.”

Janeway felt her throat tighten. _I’m honored,_ she wanted to say, but there was something in B’Elanna’s eyes, something about the raw vulnerability in the other woman’s voice, that told the captain that the less she said, the better.

So she cleared her throat and gave B’Elanna a smile filled with all the affection she could muster. “Well. A Happy Halloween to you, Lieutenant. Always.”

B’Elanna gave a watery smile in return. “Same to you, Captain.”


End file.
